Anniversary
by Silver Moon of Night
Summary: Set several years after John and Karkat become partners. Is sort of post-Gifted, but it isn't necessary to read to understand most context.


**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters used.**

Anniversary

"John, don't, not right now. It's too early," Karkat hissed, scowling and putting a hand on John's shoulder. The younger fairy glanced back for a fraction of a second, a frown on his face, before his bright eyes switched back to the target that would soon be at the receiving end of an arrow. His eyes looked down the shaft to the hobgoblin general, being boisterous with his men as they made merry around a campfire, far to loud for John's tastes. At least they weren't with their recent ex-allies, the pixies, who were quiet and stealthy. And with that thought, John let the arrow fly.

He could almost hear the wet thunk of the arrow tip sinking through flesh, though his fleet, with their eagle eyes, were hidden far above in the canopy of leaves, darkened by nightfall, resting among their home in the tree branches, while the hobgoblins were camping out on the ground for the night, roaring fires advertising their location and giving them away in their foolishness. The arrow had struck home, embedding itself in the general's eye. There was an uproar in the camp below, and John let out a short, sharp whistle, signaling for a barrage of arrows from the rest of his fleet to rain down upon the chaos and serving to increase it further. Come morning, this part of the forest would be stained red with blood of their enemies. In their brutishness, the goblins wouldn't even think to try to reach the boughs where the fairies stood. It was one of the advantages of having a home that was native to the branches of trees that reached towards the sky.

Karkat himself just stood back, watching his mate as he shot arrow after arrow down upon the enemy, making sure that the Gifted was alright, that no harm would befall him. And, as fate would have it, it was Karkat that first felt the first chilling touch of the weather that was due that night, the reason that this attack had to fall on this date, or the winter would be lost to the hobgoblins, and they'd spend the majority of their time keeping them back, neglecting crops and herds.

It was snowing.

"We did fairly well, don't you think?" John glanced back at Karkat with a grim smile as he hung his thick winter coat up by the door. "I mean, they're not getting any closer to the colony in this weather. We've held them off pretty well." He frowned as Karkat said nothing, heavy and strange silence filling the room. Silence was so unusual for the two of them.

John was about to break the noiseless air, wanting some sound to stir in his ears, when Karkat himself spoke. "John. Do you remember what today is?"

"What is today?" Realization was slowly dawning on John as he smiled, wrapping his arms around Karkat's waist. The other man frowned, but didn't object; then a hint of a smile cracked his lips, a tiny snort leaving him as his arms circled John's torso.

"You forgot again?"

"Yeah." John chuckled sheepishly, leaning in to kiss his mate. "Sorry. With the mission and everything... Every year it gets busy around this time, and I hate forgetting, I really do." He grinned wryly. "Go on, call me a dumbass, and a fuckhorn, and a cock-munching shit-monger." His wings twitched slightly as Karkat's thumb ran along the outer curve of one of his primaries, wondering if he could be trying to start something. "I totally deserve it. I swear I remembered last week, too... When I bought your present, actually."

Karkat started, eyes widening. "You remembered enough to get me a present?" When John nodded, he gave him a little smirk, fingers brushing more daringly over John's wings, placing a light kiss on his jaw. "What is it, then?"

"You'll have to wait and see," John purred softly at him, placing his forehead on Karkat's. "I mean, I don't think you'd want to tell me what yours is, would you?" He brought up a hand as he leaned back to brush Karkat's hair away from his forehead, kissing it gently. "I can give it to you a little later, if you like. But I would really like to fix you something nice to eat first. How does pumpkin spice muffins, eggs, and bacon sound? We didn't really get to eat a good breakfast on the mission, so I figure we deserve it, heheh."

Karkat nodded in agreement, smiling. "And afterwards, I'd like to go to bed with you." He leaned in to kiss at John's throat ever so gently. "We haven't been to sleep together for a while, John..." Though this was true, Karkat didn't normally mind, and didn't want sex to be the thing that shaped their relationship. He was lucky to have someone like John who shared his sentiments, and though they slept together sparingly, every time was like the first.

John seemed to think this agreeable as he nodded, smiling softly at his mate. His mate... Though it had been several years, he always loved thinking that, knowing how true it was, that Karkat was his. It put a bit of pep in his step as he walked into the kitchen to prepare a hearty breakfast for the two of them as he had promised, humming a soft tune and feeling wonderfully happy.

* * *

Karkat opted to sit in John's lap as they ate, only smirking at the initial protest that John couldn't reach his food, because they both knew that Karkat was happy to feed him if he couldn't, and neither of them minded. It was a kind of intimacy for them, and in Karkat's opinion, would be a perfect predecessor for sex, because as soon as they finished eating Karkat was going to kiss him silly, or at least that was the plan.

John presented him with a mint leaf when he was done eating, taking one for himself and chewing it up. Karkat gladly took it, happy that this probably meant that John wasn't making him brush his teeth this time around. He had this thing about clean-smelled breath,and it drove Karkat crazy (and not in a good way). As soon as the two of them were finished chewing the mint and had spit out the pulp into the trash can, putting their dishes in the sink to be cleaned later, Karkat practically jumped on John, pressing their lips together firmly.

The Gifted let out a little half-snort, half-laugh in his surprise, wrapping his arms around Karkat and holding him close. The two stumbled out of the kitchen, locked in an embrace, as John backed them towards the bedroom, which now held only a single bed for the two of them, the other removed to make more room for storage space and the like. John fell back onto the bed, Karkat following, barely breaking their kiss, until Karkat had to break away for breath, grinning slightly.

"C'mon, you animal, come get me," John laughed, hitting his shoulder lightly. "You can last like ten minutes in a lip-lock. You've held your breath underwater for at least that long before!"

"It's because you take my breath away, John," Karkat said, both joking and serious at the same time, nosing into the crook of his neck. "Would you rather do wingplay this time around, or stick to the front?"

"Wingplay," John said with a little nod, almost too quickly, and Karkat knew he'd probably thought it over. He leaned forward to kiss his guardian before squirming out from under him to shed his clothes, while Karkat did the same. Then he laid on his stomach for Karkat, knowing how he liked to do this sort of thing by now, and having no objections with it himself, very happy with how his partner liked to do it.

Karkat crawled forward, moving to nudge John's wings, in their limp, cloth-like state, to the side, so that he could sit on his hips. Once he was settled, John sent an order through his mind, the nerves in his wings sending a signal to the membrane as it hardened just slightly; it was dangerous to have them anywhere near flight-ready during sex, as in full rigidity, they were extremely easy to tear, but at the same time, there wasn't much to get out of having them in their fully limp state.

The guardian leaned over John's back to kiss the back of his head as he gently fingered the places where John's wings met his back. Work outwards, that was usually the way things went; there were millions of tiny nerves throughout the wings to give them their ability for precision, but the outer regions, the widest parts of the wings, was where the best spots could be found. John began to give off soft noises as Karkat's hands slowly began to stroke along his axial wings, which most fairies didn't really have. These were the least sensitive of the three sets of wings, since they weren't exactly necessary.

Soft whispers of encouragement began to fall from Karkat's lips as he nipped the back of John's neck softly. John's hands fisted into the sheets as Karkat's wandered down to his secondary wings, and his voice trembled as he pleadingly called, "Karkat..." Teasingly light, Karkat's fingers ran along one of the outer curves of his wings, beginning to move up again, and beneath him, he could feel John's skin warming up.

With a soft grin, his hands moved on to the primaries, handling them carefully, but giving John what he wanted, his touches no longer teasing. He adjusted himself so that he was sitting between John's legs as he began to squirm underneath him, and he leaned over to the bedside tablet o grab a bottle of lube from the drawer.

"You are ready, right?" he asked softly, knowing to ask permission first. Sometimes it was still so that one or both of them would have to suddenly back out, and there was an understanding between the two of them now that this was okay. No matter how many times they'd been together already, they knew that as soon as they were uncomfortable with something, they should stop.

John nodded, looking back at him with a tiny smile. "Yes, my knight in shining armor. I am ready, as a matter of fact. Now stick your fingers up my ass before I do it myself." He laughed at Karkat's tiny scowl, though he knew it wasn't really genuine, as when it came to his eyes, it faded into an amused smile.

Karkat did as he said, though, hurrying to prepare him before stroking lube onto himself and lining his cock up to John's entrance. "Still ready?" There were no jokes this time, and John nodded, biting his lower lip in preparation, though it didn't usually hurt that much any more. Karkat pushed into him gently, stopping every few moments to give him time to adjust until he was fully seated inside of him. Then he reached forward, grabbing John's upper arms to pull him up so that he was sitting in his lap, and he leaned back to give him room to work. "Whenever you're ready. I'm right here if you need to hold my hand." They had only recently started doing this- this was only the second time, actually, but John had seemed to enjoy it quite a lot last time.

The heir breathed softly as he waited for what little pain there was to go away, then, holding on to Karkat's legs, he began to move, groaning ever-so-softly. "Karkat... Please..."

"Yes? What do you need, John?" Karkat murmured in return, fingers of one hand lightly tracing the patterns on his wings, while with the other hand supported himself. "What can I do for you?"

"I-I... I want to turn around this time... I want to face you," John gasped softly, his grip tightening on Karkat as he found his prostate. "Please, fuck, before we get too close..."

"Pull off," the guardian grunted softly, pulling his hips up. John obliged, pulling off of him, and he turned around to face Karkat with a happy little grin. "Now, you're going to have to reach back and line yourself up... Like that, yeah." A quiet moan escaped Karkat's mouth as John reached behind him to line himself up, then settled back down onto him. "Good gods, John..."

"Yeah?" John said breathlessly, his hips starting to move again, as he leaned slightly forward, probably wanting to kiss Karkat. The elite didn't reply, only kissed him soundly, nipping at his lips, tugging him closer as his arms wrapped around his waist. John breathed a shaky moan into the kiss, movements of his hips speeding up, Karkat beginning to gently thrust to meet each of John's own.

"Fuck." The word slipped from Karkat's lips as their lips just barely parted, a stuttering mumble into the space where their breath mingled as they both panted, trying to catch their breath. Red eyes searched blue, and one of Karkat's hands made its way up to cradle the back of John's head, bringing him gently forward for another kiss, this one slow and calm. "John... I'm really fucking close," Karkat muttered once their lips had parted again.

John nodded, half-grinning as his teeth ran over his bottom lip, his hands holding on to Karkat's shoulders tightly, his knuckles almost white. "You and me both," he chuckled shakily.

The hand that wasn't cradling the back of John's head went to his neglected cock, and Karkat began to stroke in time with their thrusts with a practiced hand. The two of them dove in to kiss once more, and Karkat could feel John tremble as he rode out his climax, uttering a wordless cry into their kiss. With a few more movements, Karkat followed, holding on to a fistful of John's hair as he called out his name.

John slumped against Karkat as he laid back, the two of them catching their breath. Then he pushed the older fairy's bangs from his eyes, saying softly, "Your present is in my closet. Do you want me to go get it?"

Karkat mumbled something that John guessed was a no, if the hands back on his waist were anything to go by. He chuckled, resting his head on Karkat's chest, listening to his heart flutter under his ribcage. He could wait until they were well rested and cleaned up to propose to Karkat. He would undoubtedly appreciate it more that way, anyhow.

Within moments, they were both fast asleep.

**Basically the most interesting addition to fairy anatomy are their wings. Suuuuper sensitive once they're aroused. Otherwise, their anatomy is pretty much the same, though some fairies do use magic to alter it according to kinks. (So bulges and nooks could be a thing, if the couple was into that kind of thing, and other different spells could be used to satisfy different kinks.)**

**-Silver**


End file.
